Girl Meets Realizations
by CrazyGeekyLove
Summary: Riley discovers something life-changing. She was the Cory! And her other half was now becoming obvious to her. Riarkle.


**Summary:** in which Riley finally discovers that she has been the narrator all along.

...

 _I've been shipping this hardcore lately and so this was born. I love callbacks to the original series and truly believe that Riarkle was to be endgame._

* * *

"I'm Cory!" Riley shouted in stark realization, causing Maya to fall off her bed.

"No, you're Riley." Maya deadpanned, brushing off her clothes.

"That's not what I mean." Riley shushed her up quickly as the cogs were turning in her head. It was finally all coming together. "All this time, I thought I was like my mother and I needed to find the Cory to my Topenga. But I'M the Cory to my Topenga."

Maya just looked at her friend as if she had lost her mind. "Yeah, you're not making any sense right now."

"I've been looking for Corys when all along I needed a Topenga."

Maya continued to stare blankly as if what Riley was saying was making no sense to her. "You think about your parents wayyy too much to be healthy."

Riley ignored that comment, since everything was finally getting pieced together in her mind. She got it. She finally knew exactly what she had been looking for had been under her nose for as long as she could remember. She kept looking for that spark, but the spark had been there all along and she was so trapped in the fantasy in her mind that she completely missed it all.

There were really so many hints over the years. She had to have been blind not to see it… but she wasn't ready to see it. The truth was a scary thing.

Riley sat down on the bed with an expression of shock. Her stomach was too queasy to be in a healthy state right now, and it was as if she'd been hit by something heavy. "It was him all along."

"Cory?" Maya asked, with a certain disinterest because she figured by know her closest friend was hitting levels of certifiable insanity.

"Farkle." Riley answered, not even turning to face her friend, still grappling with the weight of her realization. "I'm in love with Farkle."

Maya laughed because the only thing that made any sense right now was that her friend had completely lost the plot. They both loved Farkle because he was one of their oldest friends, and adorably Farkley, but for Riley to be in love with Farkle, that was some next level insanity right there. But Riley kept staring out into space, processing everything. Maya's laughter died down and she really looked at her friend who seemed dead serious about her proclamation regarding Farkle Minkus.

"You're serious right now." Maya stated her own realization as she didn't take her eyes off of her friend. "You really mean it, right? About Farkle?" Riley wouldn't lie to her, Maya would take her at her word. And now that Maya had said it out loud, the pieces started to fall together for her too. She couldn't believe she hadn't clued in before… but Riley was right. After everything she'd been through dating in high school, Riley had missed the absolute obvious connection to the boy who had been there all along… because he was Farkle, but all of a sudden being Farkle didn't seem to be so strange.

Maya remembered when Smackle and Farkle broke up. Farkle insisted it was mutual but Riley and Maya watched Farkle like a hawk after that because they were convinced that no breakup was truely mutual and somehow, someone always got hurt. Farkle appeared to be unaffected and after they confronted him on the fact that it was just weird he was taking it so well, he called them out on it.

"You're hurting Farkle." Riley had insisted.

"There are no mutual break-ups." Maya agreed for the sake of her friend.

"I don't get what the big deal is." Farkle had said matter-of-factly after Riley told him that he should be more upset about the break-up. "You two wanted me to discover what love was, and I did. I worked it out and now it's over. Turns out, I kind of had the basics down all along anyway but it was fun while it lasted."

"You're not supposed to be so blasé about this!" Riley had replied, exasperated.

"I don't know how I'm supposed to be, but I know what I feel. She wasn't the one, Riley. I can get over that. Why can't you?"

Riley had reeled at that, stepping back as if he had offended her deeply, as her mouth opened and closed a couple of times to find a retort to his logic. Maya had to step in to rescue her speechless friend. "We just worry about you Farkle. We've gone through breakups before and they're usually painful… but if it's not for you, then you're lucky."

Farkle gave them a half-smile, finally being able to put himself in the shoes of his friends. Breakups were difficult for them, so they expected the rule to follow for him too. They were only being caring, in their own way. "I am lucky. Smackle was a great girlfriend, and she knew when it wasn't working for us. I agreed and we decided to part ways. I guess, not everyone can be so lucky with their first relationships. Thank you for looking out for me."

Maya was taken by surprise when Riley suddenly flung herself at Farkle, tears shining in her eyes, clinging to him almost desperately. She saw Farkle's eyes instinctively close as he held her tightly. She had felt like she was an intruder all of a sudden on a very private moment.

Back in Riley's room, the memories of that moment started to make sense to her, and for Maya she recognized that Riley (in her own weird way) had some subtext to her relationship with Farkle this whole time that she hadn't owned up to. Riley really had loved him, even back then.

"I seriously mean it Maya." Riley confirmed, and Maya wrapped a comforting arm around Riley. "And I'm scared."

Maya took a deep breath, she could only imagine how scary it might be to realize the gravity of feeling like this for someone. She had been there before in her own weird way, about Josh.

"I know you are," Maya confirmed, stoically there for her friend. There was nothing she could say to take away the gravity of the situation. They were growing up and if Riley really loved Farkle, this would be something serious. This could be for life. Maya sat there as long as Riley needed her for. Riley just needed to go through acceptance of her feelings first.

That was the first step.


End file.
